page_title: 2009 Chinese Grand Prix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 Chinese Grand Prix / Event report / Race
caption_attribution_description: Red Bull 3 China 09
context_page_description: The 2009 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 19 April 2009 at the Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It was the third race of the 2009 Formula One season, a change from previous years, when it took place towards the end of the season.
  Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing won the race after starting from pole position. Both the race win and pole position were the first for Red Bull team.Mark Webber, also of Red Bull, finished second followed by the two Brawn GP's of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, ahead of Toyota's Timo Glock and Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sébastien Buemi in seventh and eighth.
context_section_description: Robert Kubica and Timo Glock started from the pit lane. Due to heavy rain, the first eight laps of the race were run under the safety car. Sutil, Rosberg and Alonso made their first pit stops during the safety car period so they were at the back of the pack when the green flag was shown. Lewis Hamilton made early progress and overtook Jarno Trulli and Kimi Räikkönen, before he spun on lap 12 and dropped back to 10th. Meanwhile, Jenson Button overtook Rubens Barrichello for third after the Brazilian ran wide.
  Trulli and Räikkönen were quite slow in the early laps and they dropped back. Hamilton made progress once again and was 7th on lap 11 before another mistake which dropped him one place down. Webber made his first scheduled stop on lap 14 and Vettel on the following lap. At this point, Button led from Barrichello, Vettel, Buemi, Massa and Webber.
  On lap 17, Robert Kubica crashed into Jarno Trulli on the run to the last corner. Kubica damaged his front wing and Trulli his rear wing, which caused him to crawl one lap slowly into the pits to retire. The safety car was deployed due to debris left on the track. While avoiding the slowing Trulli, Vettel suffered a minor collision with Buemi, who damaged his front wing in the process. Buemi made his pit stop at that point, along with both Brawn GP drivers and Sutil, who had his second stop at this point and was set to finish the race from this point.
  Felipe Massa suffered an electrical problem during the safety car period and he stopped on the back straight. At the restart, Sébastien Bourdais spun before the green flag and dropped a number of places. The race continued with Vettel leading from Button while Webber, Räikkönen, Hamilton, Barrichello, Kovalainen and Buemi rounded out the top eight.
  Piquet crashed on lap 28 and damaged his front wing but was able to continue. Button missed his braking point at the hairpin on the following lap, allowing Webber through. Webber ran wide two laps later and Button was ahead again, until Webber passed him from the outside in turn 7.
  Hamilton made his only scheduled stop on lap 33, and his team-mate Kovalainen followed a lap later. Vettel stopped on lap 37 and Webber on lap 39, while two Brawn cars ran until laps 42 (Button) and 43 (Barrichello). Buemi was the last driver to make a scheduled stop, on lap 45 and after that race order was: Vettel, Webber, Button, Barrichello, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Sutil and Heidfeld. Nico Rosberg had tried intermediate tyres on his second stop but he spun soon after and pitted again for full wets.
  Hamilton continued with a lot of mistakes so Kovalainen and Sutil were able to pass him. Then on lap 51, Sutil crashed heavily before turn 5, ending his race. Heidfeld had to avoid Sutil's tyre which had bounced back to the track and Glock and Buemi went past him.
  Vettel stayed in the lead until the end, taking his second Grand Prix victory and his first for Red Bull Racing. His team-mate Webber achieved his best career result with second place while Button got his third successive podium with third place. Barrichello finished fourth, Kovalainen fifth, Hamilton sixth, Glock seventh and Buemi eighth. A total of 17 drivers were classified, including Sutil who had retired.
  On the podium, there was confusion when "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem was played for winning constructor Red Bull instead of "Land der Berge, Land am Strome", the Austrian national anthem. Red Bull Racing is based in the UK, but is registered with the Austrian national racing authority, reflecting its Austrian ownership. When Vettel recorded Red Bull's second win at the 2009 British Grand Prix, the Austrian anthem was played.
caption: Sebastian Vettel took Red Bull Racing's first victory in Formula One.
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